Mavericks take game 2 vs Portland

The Dallas Mavericks took game 2 of the 1st round NBA Playoff series against the Portland Trail Blazers with a 101-89 victory Tuesday night at the American Airlines Center.  With the win, the Mavericks took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series and won their sixth straight game in the process.

Dirk Nowitzki finished with a game-high 33 points (9-22 FGs, 15-17 FTs) to go with seven rebounds and four assists. He’s averaged 30.5 points per game in the first two playoff games (16.0 ppg in the fourth quarter). He’s shot 28-of-30 (.933) at the line.  With his 14th point (a finger roll at the 27.9-second mark of the second quarter), Nowitzki moved past Bill Russell (2,673) and into 25th place on the all-time playoff scoring list. He now has 2,693 career points in the postseason. Patrick Ewing ranks ahead of him in 24th place with 2,813 career playoff points.

Nowitzki (33), Peja Stojakovic (21) and Jason Kidd (18) combined for 72 of the Mavericks’ 101 points in the game. Kidd is averaging 21.0 points per game this postseason.

Peja Stojakovic, who recorded 20-plus points just once in the regular season (22 at Houston on 2/12/11), went 5-of-10 from beyond the arc en route to 21 points in Game 2 vs. Portland. The last time Stojakovic scored 20 points in a playoff game was on 5/5/08 (25 points vs. San Antonio as a member of the New Orleans Hornets). It was also the last time he made five 3-pointers in a playoff game.

The Mavericks did not commit a turnover in the second half and tied a franchise-low for a playoff game with six turnovers on Tuesday (six turnovers on four other occasions, most recently against Phoenix in 2006).

Portland did not record a single bench point in the second half.

Game 3 is at Portland on April 21 at 9:30 p.m.